book 3 – the brief & philosophy

1Book 3, I tmustexpand Project – The Br ief & Phi losophy Research & Development

03

It MUST Expand project

Book

The Br ief & Phi losophy Research & Development

2 Book 3, I tmustexpand Project – The Br ief & Phi losophy Research & Development

Background:

My th ink ing on th is topic was f i rst

provoked when given the opportuni ty to

choose any quest ion for an essay in the

lat ter part of th i rd year. The quest ion

chosen was ‘The power of design; The

inf luence of propaganda’.

Coming into fourth year I was very

keen to cont inue much deeper into th is

area. A pr imary source of inspi rat ion

for the pro ject was ‘F i rst Things F i rst

Mani festo’ by Ken Gar land:

We, the unders igned, are graphic

designers, ar t d i rectors and v isual

communicators.

. . . des igners apply the i r sk i l l and

imaginat ion to se l l dog biscui ts,

des igner coffee, butt toners and

l ight beer.

. . . Many graphic designers have now

let i t become, in large measure, what

graphic designers do. This, in turn,

is how the wor ld perceives design.

The profess ion’s t ime and energy is

used up manufactur ing demand for

th ings that are inessent ia l at best .

Many of us have grown increasingly

uncomfortable wi th th is v iew of

design.

. . . There are pursui ts more worthy of

our problem-solv ing sk i l ls .

We propose a reversa l of

pr ior i t ies in favour of more usefu l ,

last ing and democrat ic forms of

communicat ion – a mind shi f t away

f rom product market ing and toward

the explorat ion and product ion of

a new k ind of meaning. The scope

of debate is shr ink ing; i t must

expand. Consumer ism is running

uncontested; i t must be chal lenged

by other perspect ives expressed, in

part , through the v isual languages

and resources of design.

This is largely the where the pro ject

started, and where the pro ject

eventual ly der ived i t ’s name, the

mani festo states: “The scope of debate

is shr ink ing; i t must expand.”

The discussion and analys is of v isual

communicat ion must expand.

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Objectives:

To produce a resource to engage v isual

communicators; to encourage cr i t ica l

thought and analys is of the i r work.

The resource wi l l be designed to be

del ivered to pr imar i ly des ign agencies,

but a lso avai lable to anyone involved in

v isual communicat ion and the creat ion

of media.

Output:

The resource wi l l need to be both

physica l and dig i ta l :

– A physica l pack conta in ing resources,

e.g. a book expla in ing the thought

process, some templates for workshops

and promot ional i tems.

– A websi te inc luded a b log, and dig i ta l

vers ions of the physica l resources.

Tone:

St i l l to be decided; th is wi l l have to be

researched thoroughly as i t ’s key to the

del iver ing of the message. But wi l l have

to be instant ly engaging and intr igu ing,

as wel l as being compel l ing.

Detai ls:

The physica l pack wi l l have to be easi ly

posted:

– Be able to f i t through a let ter box

without danger of damage.

– Not be too heavy as to incur extra

postage costs.

– Conta in suff ic ient resources to

prov ide a thought provoking d iscussion

of v isual communicat ion.

– Aside f rom the physica l pack other

resources should be avai lable: posters

and other promot ional mater ia l

Summary:– Discussion and analysis

must expand and develop.

– Design a resource to

encourage critical thought.

http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.

php?id=18&f id=99

03


Phi losophy underpins every movement

in society, i f we can understand the

phi losophy we can understand the

society.

The phi losophy of eth ics is where

we must start , th is pro ject is more

concerned with the ‘why’ of how we

design not the ‘what’ . Th is pro ject

isn’t seeking a mere add-on of soy

based inks or us ing recycled paper.

This is seeking a r igorous and cont inual

examinat ion of our pract ice.

So I thought i t he lpfu l to def ine a

phi losophy of eth ics, the succinct book

‘50 Phi losophy Ideas’ expla ins v i r tue

eth ics very wel l .

“For most of the 400 years, mora l

phi losophers have tended to focus

pr imar i ly on act ions, not agents –on

what sort of th ings we should do rather

than what sort of people we should

be. The main task of the phi losophers

has been to d iscover and expla in the

pr inc ip les on which th is mora l obl igat ion

is based and to formulate ru les that

guide us to behave in accordance with

these pr inc ip les.

Very d i fferent proposals have been

made on the nature of the under ly ing

pr inc ip les themselves, f rom the

duty-based eth ics of Kant to the

consequent ia l is t ut i l i tar ian ism of

Bertham and Mi l l . Nevertheless, at root

there has been a shared assumpt ion

that the core issue is the just i f icat ion

of act ions rather than the character

of agents, which has been seen as

secondary or mere ly instrumenta l .

But v i r tue has not a lways p layed

handmaiden to duty or some other good

beyond i tse l f .

Unt i l the Renaissance and the f i rst

st i r r ings of the sc ient i f ic revolut ion, the

overwhelmingly important in f luences

in phi losophy and sc ience were the

great th inkers of c lass ica l Greece –

Plato and, above a l l , h is pupi l Ar istot le.

For them, the main concern was

the nature and cul t ivat ion of good

character ; the pr inc ip le was not ‘What

is the r ight th ing to do ( in such and

such c i rcumstances)?’ but ‘What is

the best way to l ive?’ Given th is very

d i fferent set of pr ior i t ies, the nature

of v i r tue, or mora l excel lence, was of

centra l interest . Ar istot le’s phi losophy

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was ecl ipsed for severa l centur ies

f rom the t ime of Gal i leo and Newton,

when attent ion shi f ted to the ru les and

pr inc ip les of mora l conduct. From the

middle of the 20th century, however,

some th inkers began to express the i r

d issat is fact ion with the prevai l ing

t rend in mora l phi losophy and to rev ive

interest in the study of character

and v i r tues. This recent movement in

mora l theor is ing, inspi red pr inc ipal ly

by Ar istot le’s eth ica l phi losophy, has

advanced under the banner of ‘v i r tue

eth ics’ .”

Here we can see the movement and I

th ink the importance of v i r tue eth ics,

here is a he lpfu l quote f rom Ar istot le,

“The Good of man is the act ive exerc ise

of h is soul ’s facul t ies in conformity

wi th excel lence or v i r tue. . . Moreover

th is act iv i ty must occupy a complete

l i fet ime; for one swal low does not make

spr ing, nor does one f ine day.”

As the quote points to, the solut ion

here isn’t just the odd pro-bono design,

or David B. Berman pledge to g ive

10% of your t ime to ent i re ly posi t ive

ventures. The solut ion is a reversa l of

pr ior i t ies, to not just start doing some

pure ly good th ings. But to stop doing

a l l the bad and harmful th ings.

This pro ject ca l ls for designers to

thoroughly examine the i r work and

therefore themselves. More than

that th is pro ject seeks to encourage

designers to look beyond thei r work

and see the potent ia l that they have for

posi t ive in f luence.

As Kal le Lasn sa id in an interv iew I had

with h im,

“But I th ink there are a few designers

now that are waking up to the fact that

designers are actual ly some of the most

powerfu l people in the wor ld! We are

the people who create the ambiances;

we are the people who create the

code of the media. . . . We are some of

the most cr i t ica l people who have the

power to change the wor ld!”

Summary:– Virtue ethics is the aim not

just the actions of a designer,

but our purpose and aim as

designers.

– A reversal of priorities must

take place.

– Designers possibly have the

power to change the world.

Ben Dupre (2007), 50 Phi losophy Ideas you rea l ly

need to know: Quercus Publ ish ing Plc.

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I fe l t i t would be helpfu l to inc lude an

abr idged piece of text f rom why Report

1, as i t inc ludes important research that

in forms the d i rect ion and design of the

pro ject .

In Jean Buadr i l lard’s book Simulacra

and Simulat ion, he opens with what he

descr ibes as the ‘hyperrea l ’ .

“ I t is the generat ion by models of a rea l

wi thout or ig in or rea l i ty : a hyperrea l”

The hyperrea l is the percept ion of

rea l i ty we come to af ter the s igns

d istort ing our percept ion. Baudr i l lard

point is that images have become

more than images, because of the i r

ubiqui ty and our cul tures subject ive

understanding. They have become our

rea l i ty, according to h is understanding

when an image is created i t can actual ly

change someone’s percept ion of rea l i ty,

i t can change rea l i ty. One commentator

on Baudr i l lard, Andrew Fel lows

corroborates h is point fur ther,

“Most of us fee l inst inct ive ly that a

graphic image is the t ruest record of

rea l i ty – i f you see i t in an image i t

has to be t rue i t has to be rea l – and

th is means that the graphic image has

become a much more powerfu l”

Cont inu ing on h is point , Fe l lows again

suggests that the image has now in

our cul ture become more inf luent ia l

that words. That images have begun

to become real i ty in themselves, so

now images carry incredib le power

and inf luence. So as a designer’s job

is to create images and market ing

to in f luence and persuade people, a

designer is incredib ly in f luent ia l . Th is is

the consumer’s exper ience of a p iece of

design. Moving onto media Baudr i l lard

c i tes McLuhan’s formula

‘Medium is the Message’. In br ie f

McLuhan’s theory was that the form

of the medium ( the means by which

something is being communicated) ,

embeds i tse l f in whatever the message

happens to be, therefore inev i tably

in f luencing and shaping the message.

Baudr i l lard goes on to d iscuss the use

of in format ion,

“We th ink in format ion produces

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meaning, the opposi te occurs. Thus

informat ion d issolves meaning and

dissolves the socia l , in a sort of

nebulous state dedicated not to a

surplus of innovat ion, but, on the

contrary, to tota l entropy.”

Here Baudr i l lard argues that the over

use of media and informat ion is hav ing

the opposi te effect – of over load, and

now any meaning is being lost . So

are areas of graphic design actual ly

meaningless? Have they gained

inf luence, but lost the abi l i ty to decide

what they actual ly in f luence? Are they

just gener ic images thrown out into

the melee of media and understood in

whatever way the consumer perceives

i t? Do designers have contro l?

Baudr i l lard cont inues onto media and

advert is ing,

“Thus the media are producers of not

of socia l isat ion, but of exact ly the

opposi te, of the implos ion of the socia l

of the masses.”

Baudr i l lard argues that the a im of a l l

th is in format ion was to – in other words

– make the wor ld smal ler, and increase

socia l isat ion. Here he says the opposi te

happens, wi th the ‘ tota l entropy’ that

occurs, meaning is lost , and that

socia l isat ion loses i t ’s meaning.

“As a medium has become i ts own

message (which makes i t so that now

there is a demand for advert is ing in and

of i tse l f , and that thus the quest ion of

“bel iev ing” in i t or not is no longer even

posed), advert is ing is complete ly in

unison with the socia l . ”

Baudr i l lard cont inues on even further,

to say that th is new socia l isat ion,

(what he refers to as ‘ the socia l ’ ) is

now dependant on th is method of

communicat ion. As he understands the

cause of the socia l to be the over load

of in format ion, the socia l can’t cont inue

in the same way without constant ly

being fed with more of the same

informat ion.

So even worse, are graphic designers

not even serv ing the purpose that they

th ink they are? Are they mere ly feeding

and cont inu ing the system that they

were born into and out of?

Summary:– The hyperreal has been

created, through overuse of

images.

– Similarly an overload of

information has dissolved

meaning.

– Designers are possibly not

serving the purpose they

thought they are.

http://www.thef i lmjournal .com/issue13/thematr ix .

html

Jean Baudr i l lard, (1981), S imulacra and

Simulat ion: The Univers i ty of Michigan Press

(1994)

http://www.labr i - ideas- l ibrary.org/download.

asp?f i le ID=363

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Simi lar ly wi th Report 2 there was a lot

of s ign i f icant research that d i rected the

pro ject .

We wi l l begin wi th the Si tuat ion ists,

who have been a source of research

and ins ight into cul ture and society, and

v isual communicat ion’s re lat ionship wi th

i t .

“We l ive in a spectacular society, that

is , our whole l i fe is surrounded by an

immense accumulat ion of spectacles.

Things that were once di rect ly l ived are

now l ived by proxy. Once an exper ience

is taken out of the rea l wor ld i t

becomes a commodity. As a commodity

the spectacular is developed to the

detr iment of the rea l . I t becomes a

subst i tute for exper ience.”

The Si tuat ion ists developed and

cont inued Marx ist theor ies, pr imar i ly

the idea of the ‘commodity’ , which the

Si tuatonists developed into the term

the ‘spectacle’ . The commodity was the

term given to the effects of capi ta l ism,

that we don’t va lue products or serv ices

for the i r natura l worth, rather the va lue

can be much more than i ts mater ia l

worth. In a capi ta l is t society v i r tua l ly

ident ica l products can have vast ly

d i fferent va lues due to the status or

brand name. The va lue of a commodity

isn’t d i rect ly proport ional to i ts mater ia l

worth. The s i tuat ion ists descr ibed

that the effects of capi ta l ism reached

even further, meaning i t commodi f ies

exper iences and percept ion.

In Guy Debord’s Society of the

Spectacle, he descr ibes what he

sees as the impact of the spectacle

on society. Debord argues that

our exper iences have become

representat ions,

“The economies dominat ion of

the socia l l i fe enta i led an obvious

downgrading of being to hav ing that

le f t i t ’s stamp on a l l human endeavour.

The present stage, in which socia l

l i fe is complete ly taken over by the

accumulated products of the economy,

enta i ls a genera l ized shi f t f rom having

to appear ing”

Here Debord descr ibes the downward

s lope of society, that our percept ion

of rea l i ty and being has changed to

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having, and th is exper ience of hav ing

developed to appear ing. Meaning that

society just appears to be certa in

th ings and th is can di ffer and change

depending on your percept ion. He

cont inues onto our re lat ionship wi th

images,

“The spectacle is not a col lect ion of

images; rather i t is a socia l re lat ionship

between people that is mediated by

images”

Debord argues that society is

re lat ionships between people that are

governed and mainta ined by images.

I f th is is t rue i t vast ly changes our

responsib i l i ty as v isual communicators.

Debord cont inues that th is degradat ion

of society has a lso caused a

degradat ion of knowledge and cr i t ica l

thought.

“Al l community and cr i t ica l awareness

have ceased to be”

Has there been a decl ine in cr i t ica l

thought? Has society stopped th ink ing

and analys ing?

Yet some in society are aware of

th is lack of awareness, aware of the

spectacle of society and the lack of

cr i t ica l and analyt ica l thought. This

topic is d iscussed in an interv iew by

Jeremy Paxman with Russel l Brand, a

comedian. The interv iew was scheduled

pr imar i ly because Russel Brand had

recent ly re leased an autobiography,

as wel l as being a prominent f igure in

popular society.

I t begins wi th JP asking about fame and

RB’s v iew of i t , RB expla ins that the

idea of fame permeates society because

i t is presented as the ‘spectacle’ to

d ist ract us f rom of everyday l ives. “ I t ’s

bread and c i rcuses Jeremy.” Cont inu ing

th is idea of the spectacle of fame, RB

descr ibes a ‘narrat ive’ that is fed to

society, that news is presented as a

dramat ic story, because no one wants

to th ink anymore or to deal wi th the

complex i ty of rea l s i tuat ions. Society

is fed th is fa l lacy cont inual ly through

the media, stor ies are twisted to be

whatever is the most at t ract ive. That

the media uses images and ideas to

mainta in th is cul tura l narrat ive to keep

society ‘dumb’.

He concludes with a very ins ight fu l and

inspi r ing comment,

“Try to aspi re to something more

beaut i fu l , something more t ruthfu l . . .

Perhaps i f we were in tune with more

beaut i fu l ideas we wouldn’t pr ior i t ise

such pecul iar ideas and not ions.

And perhaps i f we can popular ise

through the techniques of branding

and consumer ism a d i fferent idea, a

d i fferent narrat ive perhaps the wor ld

can change.”

Perhaps the wor ld can change. Is i t

possib le to change society, cu l ture and

the wor ld wi th a new idea? Can design

change the wor ld?

Joshua Blackburn th inks i t can, in

an art ic le t i t led ‘Design Can Save

the Wor ld’ wr i t ten for Provokateur he

states,

“The not ion of design hav ing a socia l

ro le to p lay is far f rom new – and

hardly a concei t . Art ists and designers

have long served as messengers,

miss ionar ies, revolut ionar ies, agi tators,

and propagandists. Centur ies before

09


the holy Brand Guidel ines, v isual

communicat ion was being sharpened as

a tool of re l ig ion, war and pol i t ics.”

Joshua Blackburn argues that v isual

communicat ion being used for

commercia l purposes is a new addi t ion

to design’s reperto i re, stat ing that

v isual communicat ion was f i rst used to

communicate re l ig ion, war and pol i t ics.

The quest ion tackled last year about the

use of propaganda led to research into

grass roots movements where v isual

communicat ion was being grappled

with and discovered. In react ion to

the Apartheid regime act iv ists needed

methods to reach mi l l ions of people

to uni te them. Given that the vast

major i ty of the populat ion were i l l i terate

communicat ion needed to be v isual and

thus a form of communicat ion largely

undiscovered grew and developed. I t

d idn’t grow out of a necessi ty to se l l

and consume, i t grew out of a necessi ty

to v isual ly communicate ideas.

Another point made in the same art ic le

f rom Joshua Blackburn is a cr i t ic ism

about design schools, s imi lar cr i t ic isms

have been made by a number of other

commentators. Kather ine McCoy

echoes th is in an essay,

“Design educat ion most of ten t ra ins

students to th ink of themselves as

passive arb i ters of the message

between the c l ient/sender and

audience/receiver, rather than as

advocates for the message content or

the audience.”

She a lso goes so far as to ca l l

des igners ‘prost i tutes’ , se l l ing

themselves to corporat ions, abandoning

moral i ty to make a l iv ing. So of ten i t

seems that designers don’t th ink about

what they’re designing they mere ly

prov ide a serv ice. As Michael Bierut

comments in an essay t i t led ‘The Main

Fai l ing Of Design School : K ids Can’t

Think For Themselves’ ,

“What’s va lued is the way graphic

design looks, not what i t means.

In many programs, i f not most, i t ’s

possib le to study graphic design for

four years wi thout any meaningfu l

exposure to the f ine arts, l i terature,

sc ience, h istory, pol i t ics.”

He argues that we need to know and

understand cul ture and the industry

that we would be designing for. Making

the point ‘how can a designer p lan an

annual report wi thout some knowledge

of economics?’ Another point is made

by Rick Poyner, he comments on a l is t

publ ished by Prospect magazine of

the 100 top Br i t ish publ ic inte l lectuals.

He points out that two archi tects and

a conceptual ar t is t make the cut, but

that is a l l the people involved in v isual

cu l ture that make i t onto the l is t . Why

is design so poor ly represented? He

ins ight fu l ly concludes,

“The l is t is best taken, perhaps, as

a usefu l reminder of the gap that

cont inues to ex ist between designers’

g lowing se l f - image as v i ta l shapers of

the contemporary v isual landscape and

the rea l i ty of the i r posi t ion, or rather

the i r lack of posi t ion, in the socia l

and pol i t ica l debates that in f luence

matters of publ ic pol icy. The overr id ing

chal lenge for designers and those

committed to design’s possib i l i t ies is to

establ ish connect ions outs ide design.”

This process of research caused me


to quest ion whether design was the

answer at a l l , i f our v isual cu l ture can

be so damaging, and has such a gr ip

on society. That maybe absta in ing is the

answer, maybe instead of ‘good’ images

being the counter to ‘bad’ images,

maybe no images is the counter?

Loretta Staples points out a start l ing

possib i l i ty,

“Could i t be that increasingly graphic

design is less the solut ion and more

the problem? This is the squeamish

possib i l i ty profess ional graphic

designers are loathe to confront,

because in so doing, the profess ion

r isks undoing i tse l f . Th is is the threat

posed by any r igorous d iscurs ive

cr i t ique.”

In order for an honest look at the

problem, we need to be open to any

conclus ion, even i f that resul ts in our

own undoing. The conclus ions taken

f rom al l th is research is that something

needs to be done. This br ings us back

to where th is pro ject started, F i rst

Things F i rst mani festo,

“The scope of debate is shr ink ing; i t

must expand. Consumer ism is running

uncontested; i t must be chal lenged

by other perspect ives expressed, in

part , through the v isual languages and

resources of design.

The debate must expand, designers

need to be chal lenged on an indiv idual

leve l , th is is why th is pro ject is

happening. Ul t imate ly another idea,

another narrat ive is needed to change

society. But unt i l that comes, we need

to search for i t by expanding the debate

and thought in society.

http://archive.org/deta i ls/

SpectacularT imesImagespdf

Guy Debord, (1994), The Society of the

Spectacle: Zone Books, New York

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-

NCDovAWB8

Http://provokateur.com/provokat ions/art ic les/

Steven Hel ler & Veronique V ienne, (2003), Ci t izen

Designer (perspect ives on design responsib i l i ty ) :

A l lworth Press, U.S.

Michael Bierut , (2007), Seventy-n ine Short Essays

on Design: Pr inceton Archi tectura l Press

Michael Bierut , W i l l iam Drentte l , Steven Hel ler,

(2002), Looking Closer Four: Cr i t ica l Wr i t ings on

Graphic Design: A l lworth Press, New York

Http://observatory.designobserver.com/feature/

where-are-the-design- inte l lectuals/2347/

http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.

php?id=18&f id=99

Summary:– Guy Debord talks about

how society becoming a

spectacle and seriously

affected communication and

information.

– Russell brand echoes this

saying that society is fed this

fal lacy through the media.

– That possibly design schools

are at fault for teaching

their students just to serve

corporations.

– An honest examination will

have to continue, ultimately

another idea wil l have to be

presented.


Part of my research inc luded Jan Van

Toorn who is an internat ional ly known

graphic designer. His best known works

inc lude the calendars for pr int ing Mart .

Spru i j t in Amsterdam, posters and

cata logues for the Van Abbe Museum

(1965-1994) in E indhoven, and the

many covers of the annual ly updated

standard works of Ivan Wol ffers,

Medic ine.

The fo l lowing are quotes f rom his book

Design’s Del ight , which is not an easy

read. Nevertheless i t is a very helpfu l

and ins ight fu l book.

“For us as designers, archi tects,

te lev is ion-makers et cetera, to escape

f rom th is entanglement wi th inst i tut ional

interests – which wish to set pr ior i t ies

in such a way as to ref lect the i r pr ivate

interests – i t is important to formulate

a concept and strategies which once

more make act ion for publ ic concern

possib le.

Communicat ion is largely formed by

unreasoned act ion. Therefore the

formulat ion of a concept which str ives

for more independent forming of

opin ions, requi res beside the analys is

of the ex ist ing product ion re lat ions an

unceasing ref lect ion on that empir ica l

exper ience. In th is way i t wi l l be

possib le, amidst the shi f t ing opposing

corporate interests – and at the same

t ime being dependant upon them – to

develop pol i t ico-cul tura l cr i ter ia and

strategies which wi l l open new space

for profess ional act ion in the media.

Act ion start ing f rom a non-author i tar t ian

at t i tude towards the publ ic and not

conceal ing i t ’s own mediat ing ro le.”

“Designers and other profess ional

mediators have proved, unfortunate ly,

to able to stay out of th is ongoing

process of colonisat ion of the media

and have found themselves incapable

of renegot iat ing an att i tude which is

re lated to the benef i t of a l l . As a resul t ,

the image of rea l i ty they produce

consists of no more than a myr iad of

indiv idual s ide t racks, reduced to mere

form and stereotypica l content”

“ Indiv idual des igners and the d isc ip l ine

as a whole are se ldom more than

superf ic ia l ly aware of the i r ro le in the

staging of the cul tura l env i ronment”

Ja

n V

an

T

oo

rn


“Socia l cr i t ic ism has a lways been

associated with the not ion of publ ic

opin ion. Af ter a l l , socia l and cul tura l

mobi l i ty can only come about through

the format ion of pol i t ica l wi l l , a process

which is nour ished by an in-depth and

permanent cr i t ica l publ ic debate”

Van Toorn makes the point that design

has become a s lave to corporate

interests, and has no f reedom to

redef ine i tse l f .

He a lso suggests that because of the

overwhelming inf luence of the media on

design that any invent ive design that

t ies to break out of the mould is lost in

the vast sea of stereotypica l des ign. As

wel l that designers of ten aren’t even

aware of how superf ic ia l the i r work is .

The fo l lowing quote is a summary of

sorts which c i rc les round the f ront

cover,

“Communicat ion is the form of capi ta l is t

product ion in which capi ta l has

succeeded in submit t ing society ent i re ly

and g lobal ly to i t ’s regime, suppress ing

a l l the a l ternat ive paths. I f ever an

a l ternat ive is proposed, i t wi l l have to

ar ise f rom with in society of the rea l

subsumpt ion and demonstrate a l l the

contradict ions at the heart of i t . ”

Van Toorn states that v isual

communicat ion has become subject to

i t ’s master – capi ta l is t product ion. He

concludes that i f any solut ion ar ises

i t wi l l have to come f rom with in the

system and contradict i t . Offer an

ent i re ly new a l ternat ive.

Summary:– Design has become a slave

to corporate interests.

– That any work produced can

only fade amongst the myriad

of corporate design.

– An examination of visual

communication will have to

develop and be continually

happening.

– A solution will have to come

from within the system, and

offer a new alternative.

Jan van Toorn, (2006), Design’s Del ight : 010

Publ ishers, Rotterdam

http://n l .wik ipedia.org/wik i /Jan_van_Toorn


The main areas of Professor Gray l ing’s

interest as a phi losopher are the

theory of knowledge, metaphysics

and phi losophic logic. In addi t ion to

th is work, he has wr i t ten widely on

contemporary issues such as war

cr imes, the legal isat ion of drugs,

euthanasia, secular ism and human

r ights. Bel iev ing a phi losopher should

engage in publ ic debate, Professor

Gray l ing has wr i t ten for a var iety of

publ icat ions, inc luding the Guardian,

the L i terary Review, the F inancia l

T imes, the Observer, Economist , T imes

L i terary Supplement, the Independent

on Sunday, and the New Statesman.

In addi t ion, he is f requent ly heard on

BBC Radios 4, 3 and the Wor ld Serv ice.

He is edi tor of Onl ine Review London

and contr ibut ing edi tor of Prospect

magazine.

For near ly ten years, Professor

Gray l ing was the honorary secretary

of the pr inc ipal Br i t ish Phi losophica l

Associat ion, the Ar istote l ian Society.

He is past chai rman of June Fourth,

a human r ights group concerned with

China, and has been involved in a

Uni ted Nat ions human r ights in i t iat ive.

He is a fe l low of the Wor ld Economic

Forum and a member of i ts C-100

group on re lat ions between the West

and the Is lamic wor ld. He is a fe l low of

the Royal Society of Arts, and in 2003

served as a Booker Pr ize judge.

Here are some quotes f rom Gray l ing

taken f rom the book GOOD: An

Introduct ion to Eth ics in Graphic

Design:

“To devise an eth ica l code for

designers, one would do better to say:

here are examples of what a responsib le

and wel l - intent ioned designer might

be l ike; go and do l ikewise. . . . which

rests on indiv iduals being conscious

of the i r involvement in society and the

impact they have on i t . ”

“Designers f ind themselves in a spider’s

web of dut ies – contractual dut ies,

dut ies to c l ients, to stakeholders, to

col leagues, to themselves and the i r

work, and to society at large. I t ’s

somet imes di ff icu l t to serve everybody

wel l whi le at the same t ime fu l f i l l ing

one’s impl ic i t dut ies to society.”

An

tho

ny

Gra

yli

ng


“Now i t would seem to me that a

designer who paid no attent ion to

whether the i r work was str ik ing,

enchant ing or interest ing would be

fa i l ing. So the answer to the quest ion,

‘do designers have a responsib i l i ty to

t ry to make the wor ld a more beaut i fu l

p lace?’, is yes, whenever possib le. I t

f i ts into th is broad sense of the eth ica l ,

which is the nature and qual i ty and

meaning of l i fe .”

“Design is neutra l . I t ceases to be

neutra l in the l ight of i ts content.

I ts va lue moral ly is in the content i t

port rays.”

The f i rst quote here connects wel l

wi th the eth ics int roduct ion about

v i r tue eth ics, Gray l ing ta lks about the

conscient ious duty of indiv iduals in

society. He c lear ly advocates that point

as being important.

He a lso recognises the d i lemma that

many conscient ious designers are in;

be ing caught between the i r eth ica l

ideals and contracual agreements to

c l ients/bosses.

Gray l ing a lso makes comment on

how designers t reat the i r work, that

they should be impl ic i t ly aware about

i t ’s impact. This was in response to

the quest ion ‘Do designers have a

responsib i l i ty to t ry to make the wor ld a

more beaut i fu l p lace?’. He answers yes,

expla in ing that i t ’s part of our duty as

humans to be eth ica l and responsib le.

The interv iew in the book concludes

with Gray l ing being asked about how

design inf luences. He expla ins that

design and v isual communicat ion is

neutra l in and of i tse l f . But i t ’s when

the content is added, that i t ga ins i t ’s

meaning, and therefore the abi l i ty to be

eth ica l or not. So i t ’s the content that

we need to be aware of in our design.

Summary:– Grayling agrees with having

virtue ethics as a starting

point.

– That designers – as with all

humans – have an inherent

responsibilty to make the

world a beautiful place.

– That design is only as

ethical as it ’s content.

http://www.gi fford lectures.org/Author.

asp?Author ID=276

Lucienne Roberts, (2006), Good: An Introduct ion

to Eth ics in Graphic Design: AVA Publ ish ing


Richard Hol loway was bishop of

Edinburgh and Pr imus of the Scott ish

Episcopal Church unt i l 2000. An

outspoken f igure and moderniser in the

Angl ican Church, Hol loway explores

the theologica l , sp i r i tua l and eth ica l

d i lemmas in h is many books essays

and broadcasts. He was Gresham

professor of Div in i ty in the Ci ty of

London, and h is appointments have

inc luded Chair of the Br i t ish Medical

Associat ion Steer ing Group on Eth ics

and Genet ics. He is Patron of Lesbian,

Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)

Youth Scot land and has been member a

member of the Broadcast ing Standards

Commiss ion and the Human Fert i l isat ion

and Embryology Author i ty. Hol loway

is a Fe l low of the Royal Society of

Edinburgh and is current ly Chair of the

Scott ish Arts Counci l .

Here are some quotes f rom Hol loway

taken f rom the book GOOD: An

Introduct ion to Eth ics in Graphic

Design:

“You [graphic designers] are probably

more l ike archi tects than autonomous

v isual ar t is ts. In many ways th is is one

of the most in f luent ia l ar t forms. I th ink

the grace and beauty of publ ic space

can help to c iv i l is people, just as ugly

space can bruta l ise them.”

“The market is a g lor ious th ing, but

i t is a lso a monster that devours

i t ’s ch i ldren. Many of us, designers

inc luded, have to admit being

prost i tutes in that sense – se l l ing a

ta lent on behal f of th is great monster,

the most terr i fy ing ly powerfu l th ing on

the g lobe. Maybe the answer is not

to deal wi th i t through your art , but

to take an interest in the pol i t ics and

phi losophy of the market. Maybe i t ’s

as c i t izens you should be asking these

quest ions. Okay we serve th is th ing

that is good at del iver ing Reebok shoes

and interest ing coffee and cheese,

but i t is a lso capable of despoi l ing the

env i ronment and f lat ten ing complete

cul tures, so maybe we should be

cr i t ica l ly interested in the th ing we’re

serv ing.”

“So what you need then is to be

pol i t ic ised and to chal lenge the use

to which the good th ing is being put,

rather than th ink ing that somehow your

Ric

ha

rd

Ho

llo

wa

y


art , myst ica l ly of i ts own power, wi l l

somehow cleanse the th ing – i t won’t .”

The whole nature of the market is to

increase discontent. There’s something

deeply f lawed about i t . On the other

hand people say that i t ’s d iscontent

that has made us the most creat ive

animals on the p lanet. As wel l as

despoi l ing the p lanet we a lso painted

the Sist ine Chapel . . . We now need to

scare ourse lves about the dark s ide of

our d iscontent and respond to i t . I l ike

something the I ta l ian pol i t ica l theor ist

sa id, “We should be pessimists of the

inte l lect and opt imists of the wi l l . ” The

point being that yes, a lot of bad th ings

happen: people are aggress ive and

greedy and avar ic ious; but they’re a lso

capable of astonish ing k indness and

rat ional i ty”

Hol loway has some excel lent ins ights

into eth ics and moral i ty f rom a

d i fferent point of v iew. I appreciate h is

understanding of graphic designers in

the f i rst quote that wi th our work we

create spaces and decorate society as

i t were, much l ike archi tects.

Hol loway s imi lar to others make the

compar ison between designers se l l ing

themselves l ike prost i tutes to ‘ the

market’ . His main point is that i f we

seek to chal lenge the norm and want to

change the system; the best strategy

might be too not do that as designers

but as pol i t ic ians and phi losophers. He

recognises the posi t ion designers are

in wi th in the i r jobs, bound to a certa in

way of work ing and i t may be hard to

break that mould. So suggests involv ing

ourselves with other areas. I ent i re ly

agree with h is premise but only in part

to h is conclus ion. I don’t th ink we

should g ive up on breaking the mould

that designers are in.

I don’t see pol i t ic ians as ent i re ly f ree

agents able to in f luence in any way

they l ike; they are a lso bound to the i r

jobs and responsib i l i t ies. The solut ion

is an ent i re change of system, to turn

i t on i t ’s head – and designers have the

power to do that .

Summary:– Holloway views designers

much l ike architects in being

people who create spaces.

– That designers are bound

within the system of the

market.

– Everyone – designers

included –need to engage

with polit ics and philosophy

in order to understand and

challenge the problems in our

society.

Lucienne Roberts, (2006), Good: An Introduct ion

to Eth ics in Graphic Design: AVA Publ ish ing


Amongst my research I contacted

var ious designers and organisat ions to

gain advice, opin ions and understanding

of the market. I opt imist ica l ly emai led

the organisat ion Adbusters, and quick ly

got a reply say ing my emai l had been

forwarded to the edi tors. Not long af ter,

I received another reply say ing I could

phone Kal le Lasn to interv iew him.

Kal le Lasn is the cofounder of

Adbusters magazine and author of

the books Cul ture Jam and Design

Anarchy and is the cofounder of the

Adbusters Media Foundat ion, which

owns the magazine. He reportedly

started Adbusters af ter an epiphany

that there was something profoundly

wrong with consumer ism. I t happened

in a supermarket park ing lot . Frustrated

that he had to insert a quarter to use

a shopping cart , he jammed a bent

coin in so that the machine became

inoperable. This act of vandal ism was

h is f i rst (qu i te l i tera l ) “cu l ture jam” –

def ined as an act designed to subvert

mainstream society.

This was a great pr iv i lege for me, and I

wasted no t ime in contact ing h im, the

fu l l t ranscr ipt and further analys is are in

Book 5. Here are some quotes focusing

on the theory and phi losophy in

response to a quest ion about dominant

ideologies in society.

“We in the west are the people who

in the ear ly days – the Greek days –

came up with laws of log ic. And for

thousands of years we’ve been th ink ing

that we can, we’ve a lways thought we

can f igure th ings out by us ing the laws

of log ic. In medieval t imes we even

thought we could prove the ex istence

of God by us ing the laws of log ic! In

the past we’ve thought we use a lchemy

to produce gold out of lead. The most

recent example of that is that we

thought we could imaginat ive ly package

der ivat ives and mortgages in a r isk f ree

way.

. . .

I th ink i t ’s got something to do with

th is logic f reakiness of western cul ture

– that we in the west are logic f reaks!

I th ink that even a lot of des igners, i f

you rea l ly look at the way you design,

s i t t ing there in f ront of your computer

Ka

lle

La

sn

Inte

rvie

w


with your hand on the mouse and your

manipulat ing a l l these l i t t le th ings,

moving th ings around. You th ink that

somehow i f you move th ings around

enough and tweak a l l the l i t t le factors

that somehow you can come up with

the magical des ign that does what you

want i t to do. I th ink there’s something

fundamenta l ly wrong with that log ica l

way of th ink ing.”

“You know the whole g lobal cu l ture

wi l l have to move away f rom th is logic

f reakiness into a much more human

emot ional k ind of a resonance.”

A very interest ing point ar ises here,

Lasn makes the point that western

cul ture is so obsessed with logic and

reason that we over th ink and analyse.

We th ink that society and ex istence is

just a formula – a compl icated formula –

that we can work out.

Designers do th is in our work, that

we’re presented with a br ie f and we

start our problem solv ing. I t ’s just

a puzz le of choosing the correct

colours, fonts, sty le and imagery. To

f i t everyth ing together l ike a game

of tetr is , into the per fect square and

package i t to our c l ient . Lasn says there

is something fundamenta l ly wrong with

th is way of th ink ing. That we need to be

more emot ional and intu i t ive.

Other conclus ions to be brought out

of th is are that i f we connect th is

v isual rhetor ic that we’re so obsessed

with, a long with the conclus ions of

Baudr i l lard, The Si tuat ion ists and Van

toorn; that the abi l i ty to communicate

meaning and informat ion is being lost .

Then what happens when we put these

two conclus ions together?

I f in a post modern society where

increasingly in format ion and t ruth

is subject ive. Then any attempt at

communicat ing ideas is possib ly

fut i le?! V isual rhetor ic is based on

the assumpt ion of being able to

persuade, convict and convince. But

i f post moderni ty has done away with

object ive meaning, then how can we

communicate?

This is precise ly why th is d iscussion

must expand, a new al ternat ive is

needed a complete ly f resh approach.

Summary:– Westerners are ‘ logic freaks’.

– Designers need to be much

more emotional and intuitive

with their work.

– Visual rhetoric is possibly

futi le, and a new approach

needs to be presented.

– This discussion must

expand.

http://en.wik ipedia.org/wik i /Kal le_Lasn

book 3 – the brief & philosophy

Documents